


Finding Aid: SB-MC 19842, Gilbert Beilschmidt: The Diary of the Awesome Me, 1192-1984

by Megkips



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Academia, Gen, finding aid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-01
Updated: 2012-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-31 23:38:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megkips/pseuds/Megkips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A finding aid is an archival term used to provide metadata about primary resources in order for researchers to determine if the documents will be useful to their needs.  Finding aid structure depends heavily on the creator and contents.  In the case of the diaries of Gilbert Beilschmidt, the finding aid has suffered two issues: scope and outrageous ego.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Aid: SB-MC 19842, Gilbert Beilschmidt: The Diary of the Awesome Me, 1192-1984

SB-MC 19842

Gilbert Beilschmidt: The Diary of the Awesome Me, 1192-1984

Manuscripts, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

**Descriptive Summary**  
Creator: Beilschmidt, Gilbert  
Title: The Diary of the Awesome Me  
Dates: 1192 - 1984  
Quantity: 2541 cubic feet  
Abstract: Diaries written by a single individual (?) documenting the formation and dissolution of the Prussian state.  
Collection No.: SB-MC 19842  
Language: German  
Repository: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

 **Biographical Sketch of Gilbert Beilschmidt**  
The presence a historical individual named Gilbert Beilschmidt appears in the historic record every so often, in diaries of Prussian leaders. These include papers from the Teutonic Knights, Fredrick the Great and later during the German Empire, but earlier pieces of writing remain silent. From what can be gathered, Gilbert Beilschmidt was a Prussian noble who gained his rank by birth and was active both politically and militarily. He certainly has been shown to be close to not only Prussian nobility, but nobility abroad. In particular he seems to have had close relations with the Austro-Hungarian court, although not always positive relations.

It is undetermined if these documents are a line of succession or from one hand only because of the consistency of handwriting and language used.

 **Scope and Content Note**  
The contents of the diaries are far reaching, starting with the foundation of the Knights Templar and continuing to the author’s time living in the GDR. The diaries are hand written in ink. In many cases, iron gall ink has been used and the writing has faded or the ink has eaten through the paper. Restoration has been carried out as appropriate and texts from the 19th century using acidic paper have undergone treatment as well.

Gilbert’s interests center mainly around himself in relation to the world around him, but of note is his writings concerning Frederick the Great which give great personal detail.

On occasion the diaries contain pasted in photographs, newspaper clippings or maps. Several contain original art. There have been a number of correspondences found stuffed between the diaries’ pages that are undergoing processing. Their collection number will be added once they have been prepared.

The scope of these diaries are extremely broad and to that extent it is almost impossible to provide a truly comprehensive list of name and subject terms. Those listed are intentionally broad.

 **Arrangement Notes**  
Due to the sheer volume of manuscripts in this collection, it has been divided into multiple series in order to ease processing and enable access. The Gilbert Beilschmidt collection series is as follows:

I. 12th century  
II. 13th century  
III. 14th century  
IV. 15th century  
V. 16th century  
VI. 17th century  
VII. 18th century  
VII. 19th century  
IX. 20th century

**Name and Subject Terms**

Personal Names  
Albert, of Brandenburg, Archbishop and Elector of Mainz, Cardinal, 1490-1545.  
Andrew II of Hungary, 1177-1235  
Beilschmidt, Gilbert  
Frederick I of Prussia, 1657-1713  
Frederick, the Great, 1712-1786  
Goebbels, Joseph, 1897-1945.  
Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547.  
Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.  
Hohenzollern, House of.  
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, 1712-1757.  
Krüger, (Sophie Dorothea) Friederike, 1789-1848  
Luther, Martin  
Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina,1717-1780  
Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, 1687-1757  
Voltaire, 1694-1778.  
von Bismark, Otto, 1815-1898  
Wilhelm I, 1797-1888

Corporate Names  
German Confederation, 1815-1866.  
Hanseatic League  
Knights Templar (Monastic and military order)  
Synod of Worms

Geographical Subjects  
Austria  
France  
Germany  
Holy Roman Empire  
Hungary  
Lithuania  
Poland  
Prussia  
Spain  
Switzerland  
Russia  
United Kingdom  
United States of America

Subjects  
American Revolution, 1775-1783  
Allied Control Council  
Austro-Prussian War, 1866  
Austria--Administrative and political divisions--History.  
Austria--Foreign relations--Prussia  
Cold War  
Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia  
Enlightenment--Prussia  
Franco-Prussian War, 1870  
French Revolution  
German Empire, 1871-1918  
German Democratic Republic  
Holy Roman Empire--Administrative and political divisions.  
Junkers  
Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815.  
Nazis--1920-1950.  
Protestant Reformation  
Prussia--Administrative and political divisions  
Prussia--Army  
Prussia--Commerce  
Prussia. Constitution  
Prussia--Description and travel.  
Prussia (Duchy)--History  
Prussia (Duchy)--Politics and government.  
Prussia, East (Poland and Russia)--1940-1950.  
Prussia--Economic conditions.  
Prussia--Foreign relations--Austria.  
Prussia--Foreign relations--Great Britian.  
Prussia--Foreign relations--France.  
Prussia--Foreign relations--Hungary.  
Prussia--Foreign relations--Lithuania.  
Prussia--Foreign relations--Poland.  
Prussia--Foreign relations--Russia.  
Prussia (Kingdom)  
Seven Years' War, 1756-1763.  
Silesian War, 1st, 1740-1742.  
Silesian War, 2nd, 1744-1745.  
Tannenberg, Battle of, Poland, 1410.  
Thirteen Years' War, 1454-1466  
Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648.  
Treaty of Versailles (1919)  
War of Austrian Succession, 1740–1748  
Weimar Republic, 1919-1933  
World War I  
World War II

Form and Genre Terms  
Manuscript--diary

Bibliography  
Baranowski, Shelley. _Nazi empire: German colonialism and imperialism from Bismark to Hitler_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010.

Breuilly, John. _Nineteenth-century German: politics, culture and society 1780-1918._ London, Arnold, 2001.

Clark, Christopher M. _Iron kingdom : the rise and downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947._ Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006

Esdaile, Charles J. _Napoleon's wars: an international history, 1803-1818._ New York: Viking, 2008.

Dennis, Mike. _The rise and fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1990._ Longman, 2000.

Fraser, David. _Frederick the Great: King of Prussia._ London: A. Lane. 2000

Frederich, Karin. _Brandenberg-Prussia, 1466-1806_. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Frederich, Karin. _The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569-1772 - Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History._ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Gawthrop, Richard. _Pietism and the making of eighteenth-century Prussia_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Hillerbrand, Hans J. _The Protestant Reformation._ Harper Perennial, 2009.

Hook, Richard and Turnbull, Stephen. _Tannenberg 1410: Disaster for the Teutonic Knights._ Osprey Publishing, 2003.

Morton, Nicholas Edward. _The Teutonic knights in the Holy Land, 1190-1291._ Woodbridge : Boydell Press, 2009.

Oppenheim, Walter. _Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns 1713-1786._ London: Hodder  & Stoughton, 1993.

Stackelberg, Roderick. _Hitler's Germany: origins, interpretations, legacies_. London: Routledge, 2009.

**Detailed Description of the Collection/Container List**

Please click the series link to see the relevant descriptions.

I. 12th century  
II. 13th century  
III. 14th century  
IV. 15th century  
V. 16th century  
VI. 17th century  
VII. 18th century  
VII. 19th century  
IX. 20th century

**Author's Note:**

> A finding aid is an archival term used to provide metadata about primary resources in order for researchers to determine if the documents will be useful to their needs. Finding aid structure depends heavily on the creator and contents.
> 
> This came from a complete joke on tumblr about using Prussia's diaries as a primary source and how hard they'd be to work with. As it turns out, preparing a comprehensive finding aid is even harder - the subject headings and bibliography are not close to what would be professionally required and the wide scope makes matters even trickier.
> 
> My thanks to Pidge and Nena for looking over my shoulder and Miru for formatting help.
> 
> The subject headings are derived from the Library of Congress subject authority headings (and some were invented as needed). The library is the state library of Berlin which houses Prussian works as a major part of it's collection. While logically the bibliography should be German works, I can only read so much German.


End file.
